Few professional boxers are greeted in the desert with the kind of robust following that Andrew Cancio has every time he fights at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio. And when he takes center stage in Friday’s main event on ESPN2, the crowd could help him take a giant step up the super featherweight ladder.

Cancio, of Blythe, stepped away from the sport for 20 months after a narrow loss to then-unbeaten contender Ronny Rios in 2014. He returned against Rene Alvarado in 2015 to win one of the most explosive bouts in recent memory at Fantasy Springs, with a crowd of hundreds on its feet chanting his name.

He then won his next fight, again by knockout against Hugo Fidel Cazares, before losing to JoJo Diaz, who was on a world title fast track.

Winning his next fight by knockout against unbeaten prospect Aidar Sharibayev earlier this year reconnected him with Golden Boy Promotions, and the company will surely look to feature him as long as he keeps winning.

Cancio, 29, believes he can do that, starting with his main event bout Friday at Fantasy Springs against Albanian brawler Dardan Zenunaj.

“I’m ready to rock and roll,” said Cancio. “I’ve been main event, but being back here at this point in time in my career I feel a lot more comfortable.

“Now, I’m more confident in myself. I can control my emotions and my nerves leading up to the fight.”

That wasn’t always the case. Cancio (18-4-2, 14 knockouts) would get anxious in front of large crowds. The pressure to perform in front of so many supporters overcame him in crucial moments and sometimes he couldn’t recover.

With experience, and by learning how to avoid bringing the angst from his personal life into the ring, his demeanor has calmed. He’s more patient in the ring, he says, and can see subtle things that he wasn’t seeing earlier in his fight career.

“I’m calm, and when it’s time to go, I go,” he said.

The change didn’t just come from experience, though. Cancio described it as a switch being flipped, and the confidence that has come with that has made all the difference, some observers say.

He’ll have the home crowd in his favor again Friday. He’s sold tickets to the fight to fans in Blythe and Ventura, where he trains with Fernando Cervantes, but he’s also developed a massive following in La Quinta, Indio and Coachella with his strong jab and brawling approach.

He’ll have a tough opponent in Zenunaj (14-4, 11 KOs), who Cancio said he’s not looking past one bit. He does know, however, that there’s bigger opportunities awaiting on the other side of a win, and that may include another shot at Rios or Diaz, two of the top-ranked boxers in the division.